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MY DAD & THE MOVIES Felix Vasquez Jr.
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I'll just be honest here once and for all, I had nothing growing up. In spite of my parents best efforts to give us everything they could, my brother, sister and I didn't have much in the way of games or toys, or even luxuries such as the newest sneakers on the block that everyone wanted to own. We didn't even get a computer until the late nineties, but what we lacked in material possessions we were more than wealthy with parents who would do just about anything to help the summer pass by with as many experiences as possible. Water parks, the zoo, carnivals, block parties, if it was in their power to give it to us, we were more than appreciative to accept it. And I think that not being given every single thing under the sun helped us to learn to not only appreciate the little things our impoverished parents gave to us that put them out more times than we knew, but it also helped us to savor the experiences, and this helped us to learn to love things like comic books, and music, and most importantly, the movies. My first time watching "Jaws" was with my parents while eating the greasiest fries of all time. I can still remember the gravy heavy fries searing my gums with their saltiness. And "Night of the Living Dead" was first seen by me while my mom tested her newly purchased VHS. My brother and I once stole my mom's VCR and spent the day watching the horror movies she forbade us to watch. While my mom and dad were always keen on bringing us to the movies whenever they could scrounge up the money to get away and not focus on bills or the rent for a few hours they did. But most of my experiences in the movies and with movie theaters were with my father. My father who never really had much of life with children was able to somewhat re-live his childhood by living it through my brother and I. As most men do, whenever they have sons, they see something in their young boys that they gives them a chance to have something of a second childhood for better or for worse. With my dad it was for better as he gave us as much of as a fun childhood as he possible could with what little money he made. As the first born, my dad always took the chance to soak in the awe I induced whenever approached with a brand new chapter in my life and always seemed to revel in presenting me with a new surprise no matter how big or small. And speaking as someone who used to share a room with my parents and little brother in our run down apartment in the Bronx before we managed to keep our head above water, every surprise was incredible. Once my little brother Robert came along, for a good while it was just the three guys of the Vasquez house hold who managed to experience everything together. Fishing trips were epic, visiting our grandparents was always a blast, and of course, learning how to ride a bike was something of a coming of age event that my dad was proud to see us accomplish. Most of all though for something he could do with the both of us that didn't cost too much money, he took us to the movies. And it was always a fifty-fifty trade even though we were kids. Sometimes he'd see the movies he wanted to see, and sometimes he'd go to see the movies we were most interested in like "Power Rangers," or "Masters of the Universe." But for a man and two little boys, we shared a lot of similar interests so there was never any fighting or arguing among us. My dad brought us to see pure masterpieces like "Jurassic Park," and "ET," and took joy out of watching disposable fare like "Independence Day," and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," while also pretending to enjoy junk like "Meteor Man," "Matinee," and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." Nevertheless it was something we convened on and constantly engaged in back and forth's about. We always came to a mutual understanding and even if none of us ever wanted to see the movie (I was dragged to "Armageddon"), we still had a fun time just sitting down to watch it with my mom and or dad. One of my absolute fondest memories in the movies was going to see Tim Burton's Batman with my dad and brother. I can still affectionately recall the humongous cold dark theater and the three of us dwarfed by the large theater screen shining down the amazing Michael Keaton donning the Batman suit bringing down a criminal proclaiming himself to be Batman as we 'ooh' and 'aah' at the intricacies of his costume. Of course this
wasn't our first encounter with on-screen Batman as we later were
taken to see "Batman Returns" which was also quite the amazing
experience, especially considering Catwoman was one of the first
female characters to give me a taste of puberty. But then, who
didn't get a taste of their manhood watching Michelle Pfeiffer in
black stitched leather take sexual glee from battling with Batman on
the roof top? When you're a kid, most times you're woefully unaware
of the serious issues around you and parents will do just about
everything they can to shield you from that. Even in those days,
innocence was easily lost. On a scale of one to ten, ten
being close to living on the street, we were always at an eight
financially. But we never really went a week without engaging in
some entertaining activity. We never had enough money to eat for the
week, nor did we have hot water, but for some reason my dad always
found a way to take my brother and I to the movies. My Dad & The Movies Part Two >> 8/23/10 |
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